Matt Reeder

The price of the average house in Yorkshire has increased by more than £7,000 to £155,357 in the last year, according to an official index.

But the increase of 4.9 per cent between April 2016 and April 2017, revealed in the latest UK House Price Index, is among the lower annual rises across the country.

The average price of a house in the UK is now 220,000.

The highest was in the East of England, where prices rose 8.1 per cent, while in the North West house price growth was only 4.1 per cent, and in the North East 0.6 per cent.

The data, released jointly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Land Registry and other bodies, shows that the price of the average home in Yorkshire and the Humber has risen from £123,853 at the height of the recession in 2009.

Across the UK, the average house price stood at £220,000 in April, following a 1.6 per cent month-on-month increase.

The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 5.7 per cent over the year to April, with the average price now £237,000.

Wales saw house prices increase by 4.2 per cent over the previous 12 months to reach £148,000.

In Scotland, the average price increased by 6.8 per cent over the year to £146,000.

The average price in Northern Ireland currently stands at £124,000, marking an increase of 4.3 per cent over the year.

Across Britain, a first-time buyer faces paying five per cent more for a home than a year ago, with the average price paid by the sector now at £185,266.

Commenting on the figures, Richard Snook, a senior economist at PwC, said: "These figures go against the recent trend of a Brexit-related slowdown that we predicted last year but remain consistent with our guidance of two per cent to five per cent growth in 2017 as a whole."

Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and a former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "Looking forward until the politics have been resolved, many will be adopting a wait-and-see attitude as far as decision-making is concerned and property will be no exception."